Virginia ranks in the bottom half on income limits for health-care program

Children in Virginia families earning up to $44,700 a year are eligible for free or low-cost health-care coverage.

That number is half the income cap for New York families, $89,400, under a similar government-sponsored health-care program.

The San Diego-based Foundation for Health Coverage Education has released a list of the income limits for the 50 states and the District of Columbia for a family of four under the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program.

In more than half the states, the maximum income for eligibility was more than $49,500.

Following New York, the highest income limits were New Jersey ($78,225), Hawaii ($77,148); Vermont ($67,350); and Oregon ($67,248).

Virginia’s income ranked below 28 states but was the same as 17 others, including neighboring states Kentucky, Maryland and North Carolina.

Among other neighbors, the District of Columbia and West Virginia had family income limits of $67,050, while Tennessee had an income cap of $55,875.

North Dakota had the lowest income cap, $35,760, followed by Maine ($40,008), Oklahoma ($41,348), Idaho ($441,353) and Arizona ($44,100).